Rick Carlisle Singles Out Jarace Walker After Pacers’ Win Over Grizzlies

Jarace Walker played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter Wednesday night and grabbed 8 rebounds in that span, and the Indiana Pacers held off the Memphis Grizzlies for a 107-103 win at FedExForum.

Seven of the 8 came on the defensive glass. Walker also finished a fast-break alley-oop from Pascal Siakam that put Indiana ahead 86-84 with 7:47 left, and he pushed the ball ahead to Obi Toppin for a fast-break dunk that made it 94-91.

Indiana was plus-6 with him on the floor in the fourth. His only other minutes came in a 5:01 stretch of the second quarter.

Siakam went to the bench with 6:52 left and Memphis ahead 88-86. Aaron Nesmith had left 19 seconds earlier. Neither returned until 2:12 remained.

Indiana outscored Memphis 13-8 in between. Walker, Toppin, Quenton Jackson, and Andrew Nembhard played the whole stretch, with Ivica Zubac and then Larry Nance Jr. at center.

Cedric Coward’s step-back 3 put Memphis up 91-86 at 6:17. Jackson answered with a pull-up, and Toppin scored the next 6 on two free throws, an alley-oop from Jackson, and the dunk off Walker’s pass. Jackson’s 3 off a Nembhard feed made it 97-93 with 3:47 to go, and Nance dunked off another Nembhard pass for a 99-95 lead at 2:55.

Walker grabbed three straight Memphis misses during that run, all Coward 3-point attempts.

Nesmith and Siakam are two of Indiana’s main finishers, and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said sitting them through that stretch had them fresh for the end.

“They were, and I forget exactly who was in the game, but I do know that Nesmith and Pascal were out,” Carlisle said. “And so it was a very important stretch because Aaron and Pascal are two of our main finishers, and that allowed them to be fresh coming into the last three and a half minutes. Needed everybody. No two ways about it.”

Siakam scored Indiana’s next 5 points after he returned. Nesmith hit the corner 3 off Siakam’s pass with 14.6 seconds left that made it 107-103.

Memphis shot 7-of-27 in the fourth quarter. Ty Jerome went 2-of-6 in the period, and the Grizzlies made 3 of their 15 3-point tries.

The Pacers had to do some soul searching before this game, in Carlisle’s words, and he credited the group that played Monday against Atlanta with a spark.

“I think the numbers will bear that out, 103,” Carlisle explained. “And they shot a low percentage from three. And look, we had to do some soul searching headed into this game. We have not been playing up to a consistent level of intensity, force, collective will. The group that played in the Atlanta game, I thought, gave us a spark and it was meaningful. And tonight we just drew a line in the sand, just decided we were not gonna go away.”

“There were some times, the end part of that third quarter got difficult,” Carlisle continued. “We got down, I think, eight. And then Nembhard went on an amazing run to get it back to a two-point game. And then the defense in the fourth was terrific. Nesmith, Larry Nance defending what Jerome’s doing right now from 35 feet away from the basket and all the awkward wrong-foot shots. I mean, he’s just a very unique player, and he’s playing at an extremely high level. And so we held him to, what is it, 22 points, and he’s been averaging 28, and we won by four. So there you go. There’s the difference in the game.”

“But we needed everybody, once again,” Carlisle added. “And some guys that won’t get a lot of mention, but Walker played a great fourth quarter. He came up with some rebounds in traffic. He was in the right place at the right time. Had a big finish on the break. Did a lot of good things. You go right down the line. Quenton Jackson played with a lot of courage out there. Braden Smith gave us good minutes again and gave us another playmaker. And then Pascal really helped us finish the game.”

Jackson finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals off the bench and went 3-of-5 from 3. Toppin had 11 points and 5 rebounds in his return from a lumbar strain.

Walker is in his fourth season. Washington drafted him eighth overall in 2023 and traded him to Indiana that night for Bilal Coulibaly and two 2028 second-round picks. The Pacers exercised his $8,478,542 option for this season, the last year of his rookie deal.

The Denver Nuggets visit Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday for a 5 p.m. ET tip-off.